Royal Court
by yaoikoibito
Summary: Nothing special. Just your average story about a prince stowing away in a pirate ship, a gardener getting intimate with a bookshoppe keeper, the eldest prince falling in love with a peon, and a prince's tutor and caretaker kissing behind closed doors. AU
1. Royal Meetings, the Prologue

A/n: Oh look! Junjou AU from me *smiles* I hope that you guys like this. Slightly based on King Game and Prince Game and Pirate Game

Warning/s: Complete AU. This wouldn't necessarily make any sense at all. Maybe I'm running on crack?

xxX~o~o~Xxx

_Royal Court: Royal Meetings, the Prologue_

_~~o~~_

Prince Shinobu watched from beside his best friend as his father got married to the Queen of the neighbouring kingdom. He clenched his sweaty palms and unclenched them and then tapped them on the side of his thighs. He did this for about three times. He fidgeted and fidgeted, and he didn't want to be here in the first place. He hopped a bit from foot to foot and only stopped when a hand was placed on his shoulder. His caretaker looked at him sternly, but still a bit softly. Beside his caretaker, his tutor was glaring at him.

Shinobu stuck out his tongue at his tutor and looked up as his caretaker told him softly, "Shinobu, face forward. Don't cause a commotion."

Shinobu nodded and did as he was told, though he wasn't happy to be doing so. He pouted as he looked forward, though he had to admit that the Queen looked beautiful. He sighed and continued with his pouting.

Looking to the other side, he saw the Queen's one and only son, and his soon to be step brother, behaving and standing up straight. Though he seemed less fidgety than Shinobu, he looked as if he didn't want to be there too. He was looking disinterestedly at their parents' marriage. After awhile, he seemed to have noticed Shinobu staring at him and suddenly turned to Shinobu with a small smirk on his face.

Shinobu looked away, a bit irritated. He remembered all their meetings, and it was only a total of five times, four of which they were on the other ends of the room, refusing to acknowledge each other, or anyone for that matter.

There was only one time they had seen each other face to face, and they didn't necessarily talk with each other then.

_Shinobu stood behind his father, grasping the back of his shirt. This was the first time he was going to meet with the Queen's only son. Of course, he had already met with the Queen a few times, and her son would usually be away doing gods know what. The Queen had told his father that her son was usually in the library, and usually spent his time writing or reading there._

_Now it looked as if both he and Shinobu had no more excuses to not meet with each other._

"_Ah, here he comes," her highness had said. She had the warmest of smiles on her face as she saw her son._

_Shinobu could feel his heart clench, that smile had reminded him of his mother. She also had that look on her face whenever Shinobu was with her. Though four years had already passed -and he was only six then- after her death, it seemed the hurt was still there._

_Her son had hair so blond that Shinobu swore it was almost silver or white. He had purple eyes and he seemed a good ten years older than Shinobu._

_Shinobu felt his father's hand on his back and pushed him slightly forward. "Go on, meet him." His father urged him, smiling at him encouragingly._

_He took a few tentative steps forward. He looked up at the other and only realised then how tall he was. As he opened his mouth to say something, his soon to be older brother beat him to it._

"_You're awfully small, aren't you?" He said with a smirk._

_And it had only gone downhill from there._

Shinobu's nose scrunched up a bit. It wasn't like he hated him, but Shinobu didn't know him enough yet. The other was too quick to warm up to the situation of having a sibling. Shinobu, on the other hand, needed some time getting used to it.

A hand had grabbed his wrist and he looked to his right to see his closest confidant and friend looking worriedly at him.

"Is something wrong?" He asked quietly.

"Don't worry Nowaki, it's nothing at all." Shinobu shook off Nowaki's hand and resumed with his sulking.

"Okay," Nowaki said a bit unsure, "if you say so..." He reluctantly let go whatever it was that was bothering Shinobu.

Nowaki had been Shinobu's friend for as long as he could remember. His father had been the gardener to Shinobu's father. Nowaki's father had been the gardener for how many years now, and he always grew the best flowers and plants. They had met when they were kids, and because Shinobu was stubborn even then, most children were reluctant to befriend him. But Nowaki had chosen otherwise. Even though Shinobu had the tendency to be, unintentionally, a brat sometimes, Nowaki hadn't stopped being his friend.

Shinobu sighed; it wasn't very princely of him to ignore the ceremony that was of utmost importance. This was the unification of two kingdoms, as well as two people who clearly loved one another. Though they both knew each other a short while, and the circumstances were even a bit unfavourable, it was clear that they had at least some underlying affection.

Shinobu stood straighter, much to the happiness of his caretaker and tutor, and braved through the ceremony.

_~o~_

Shinobu supposed that weddings weren't entirely unpleasant. After all, most people seemed happy enough after the ceremony. The only thing that bothered him was how no one told him how _crowded_ the after celebration would be.

He supposed it was because they were the King and Queen of two kingdoms which they loved dearly. Of course, the people loved them back. After the wedding, a large crowd had gathered outside where the wedding took place and the people of the two kingdoms were eager to see the just married King and Queen. It was at that moment that Shinobu had chosen to separate from the noblemen and had unwittingly joined the crowd.

The wedding took place in the Queen's kingdom, a place he knew next to nothing about. He wasn't entirely lost, if only it weren't so crowded maybe he could find a way to get back. As it was, everyone just kept on pushing and shoving, much to Shinobu's annoyance.

"Shinobu!" he heard Nowaki's voice shout his name.

Shinobu stood on the tips of his toes, but he couldn't see anything still. He was only ten after all. Shoving his way past the people, he tried desperately to locate Nowaki. Though his face showed annoyance and anger, he really was a bit scared that he might not find his way. He could feel something tickling the corners of his eyes, and try as he might to deny it, he felt like crying.

A particularly big person shoved Shinobu hard, and Shinobu closed his eyes and waited for his face to meet the floor. But before that could happen, a hand had grabbed on tight to his arm preventing his fall. He looked up to see the Queen's son holding on to him.

"Oi, watch it!" He said to the person beside them.

He grabbed Shinobu's wrist and made their way back. "This is why you shouldn't run away like that."

Shinobu refused to look up, he kept stubbornly staring at the ground. Just then he felt the other mess up his hair. Shinobu finally looked up and scowled at him.

The other was smiling, and it was real and genuine and completely kind, "Hey," he trailed off, "Want to read some of my stories?"

Shinobu nodded, a bit unsure.

He supposed, things could've been worse.

_To be continued..._

xxX~o~o~Xxx

A/n: Yeah, not much here yet. After all, it is the prologue. *laughs* I just had to explain a bit how he came to have a brother (I'm not revealing who his step-brother is yet, but I'm betting you're clued in, am I right?) and how Nowaki became his friend and a bit of relationship dynamics and yeah. I hope you guys could guess who the caretaker and the tutor were. They need more love! *laughs*

Review please?


	2. Royal Treasure, the First Chapter

A/n: Oh guys, stop worrying. *hugs everyone* This would all the canon pairings and some OCxOC *laughs* I just think it's interesting if these friendships, you could call it, had happened.

Warning/s: The butchery of portraying princely duties and everything.

xxX~o~o~Xxx

_Royal Court: Royal Treasure, the First Chapter_

_~~o~~_

He wiped away the sweat from his forehead. He was leaning forward a bit, his hands on his thighs. His breaths were coming out in pants from the rigorous and strenuous activity he had just finished from. A clang was heard around, and he looked down as the sword that was kicked to him from across the ground came to lie in front of his feet.

"Well come on, Shinobu, what do you think you're doing?" His older brother said, a bit of mocking intoned in his voice.

Shinobu glared up at his brother with a slight sneer on his lips. Though really, everything was in good nature. He picked up his sword and examined the scuff marks that may have gotten there from having been kicked from across the room. He stood up straight and went to a far off table in the open spaced room and sheathed his sword.

He dusted himself up and looked back at his older brother. "I'm tired and sore everywhere. I don't need another sparring session, I'm good enough," he told his older brother, still sneering at him a bit.

His older brother looked at him with a slightly raised eyebrow. After a few seconds, he sighed and placed his sword back into its sheath hanging off his waist. "Hn, fine."

"_Thank_ you," Shinobu bit out tiredly.

His older brother approached him and placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. "I'll be off to read in the library for a bit."

"Yeah, okay." Shinobu said absentmindedly and rolled his shoulders a bit.

"See you later."

"Yeah, yeah, just get to your reading already, Akihiko," Shinobu said and promptly walked out of the room with his sheathed sword in hand.

_~o~_

After having put away his sword safely in his room, Shinobu went to venture out in the garden. He sat down on a stone bench and just relaxed. He leaned his head back a bit and stared up at the sky. He breathed in through his nose and tried to make out shapes formed by the clouds. Looking from the corners of his eyes, he saw the beautiful garden that had its flowers come into full bloom.

He sighed happily. He rolled his shoulders trying to make the soreness lessen, though it seemed ineffective. Surveying the garden with a content look on his face, his eyes landed on a figure not far off. They were bending down as if they were watering the plants or would talk to them.

Shinobu recognised who that was right away; he stood up from his seat and strode purposely towards the other. They didn't seem to notice him and so Shinobu moved a bit to cover the sun that was his source of light. When the other had finally noticed the shadow of someone looming over him, he stopped what he was doing and looked up only to see Shinobu standing there. He immediately smiled.

"Ah, good afternoon Prince Shinobu, what may I do for you today?"

"Che," Shinobu looked away with his arms crossed over his chest. "What have I told you about addressing me as _Prince_?"

Nowaki chuckled a bit and was smiling softly, "That I shouldn't ever call you that?"

"_Yes_," Shinobu huffed out. And he suddenly turned around.

With his back turned to Nowaki, he started walking away. Shocked by this, Nowaki came running after Shinobu. He grabbed Shinobu by one shoulder and spun him around. "You know I was only teasing you right?" Nowaki said this with a worried look on his face.

Shinobu turned his face slightly to the side, a small tint of pinkness on his cheek. He peeked at Nowaki from the side of his eyes. "Yeah, I know." He began walking off again. When he noticed that Nowaki wasn't following him, he stopped in his tracks. "Well, aren't you coming with me?" Shinobu had a look of slight irritation on his face, though his voice contained a bit of apprehension.

Nowaki just had to smile again; his friend really was too cute. "Yeah," he said, "yeah, just let me clean up a bit."

_~o~_

Shinobu looked around the town a bit. He had always loved going here; he loved walking around the town because only a few knew he was a prince. It wasn't like he was keeping it a secret in the first place, but somehow only a few knew. It was mostly because he didn't like going out of the castle much as a child and he doubted that the people who saw him when he was young would assume he was who he was now.

Mostly, what he loved about walking around town was that he got to be who he was. He didn't have to act on his _'princely duties'_ or some other words his tutor and caretaker would call it.

He walked around, with Nowaki close by. Shinobu looked to his side and saw the docks. There were stationary ships with people coming on and off board them, some labourers bringing goods, some travellers. He could faintly hear the loud shouts of commands and the creaks of the slightly swaying ships.

He bit his lip, tempted to head over, but then he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at Nowaki.

Nowaki smiled at him, "I just need to go and pick up some seeds and supplies, do you want to come with me?"

Shinobu shook his head no. "I'd like to walk around for a bit, thank you." He would shift his eyes to the side, keeping an eye on the docks.

Nowaki nodded and walked to a different direction. Shinobu watched him for awhile, and he then headed towards the docks.

The thing is, being a prince had its up and downs. Shinobu didn't curse his birth, but sometimes he felt suffocated with the rules that were implemented on him. One of them being that he wasn't allowed to go near the docks at all costs, unless he was chaperoned. But no one usually had the time and his tutor would call it a petty desire.

He loved ships, loved the pictures of the sea in the books that his caretaker read to him when he was a child. It was just so _blue_ and magnificent with the various amounts of sea creatures that he had always wanted to see up close. Though what he wanted to see the most, it was the horizon. It was how the sea would meet up with the sky. He wanted to see that for himself, not from a window in the castle.

Reaching his destination, everyone was loud and obnoxious. He heard too many voices and would constantly bump into someone.

It was getting to him; he felt the annoyance flaring up. This wasn't what he had imagined. He thought about it though, and this wasn't the sea yet. He was just at the place where the boats would reside.

He snapped out of his thoughts though when he felt a hand grab his arm and hot breath against his ear. "_Don't move if you don't want to get hurt._" It was whispered harshly in his ear. Shinobu gulped and when the person who held him captive seemed to be sure that Shinobu would comply, he dragged him to an area where he would seem less likely to be seen.

When Shinobu wiggled his arm to get free, the hold around it tightened. "_I said don't move._" It was then that Shinobu finally felt a knife's tip pressed against his back and he stilled.

As his captor dragged him away, Shinobu waited until they had to pass a crowd to make his move. He subtly moved his arm under his shirt, feeling for the dagger holder that he knew was on his belt. He slowly pulled the dagger out, schooling his features into fear and not concentration. After it was finally out, he twisted himself. He felt the skin on his upper arm burn with the stranger's tight hold. The man gasped and Shinobu swiped his dagger at him. He let go of Shinobu and that was when he made a run for it.

He looked every which way; he needed a place to hide just in case the stranger would chase after him. He saw what he thought was an empty ship and headed for that. Shinobu ran towards it, knocking down people who were in his way. Whenever he looked behind him he saw the man still chasing after him. He vaguely wondered why someone was so intent on going after him but that wasn't important now. What was important was that he got to safety.

Boarding the ship, the man seemed to have lost sight of him. But when he looked over, he noticed Shinobu and started heading towards him then. Shinobu ran below deck and hid behind a copious amount of barrels and crates hoping that he would finally be unnoticed. He was sure this would work.

Shinobu waited with bated breath. He heard the door that would lead to below the deck slam against the wall and heavy footsteps walking down. "Where are you, little prince?" Shinobu's eyebrows scrunched up in the middle. How did he know Shinobu was a prince? His birth was practically a secret. "Come out, little prince."

When it seemed like Shinobu wouldn't give up his hiding place, he unsheathed his sword and walked around the room. "I'm not here to play games you little shit." He was starting to get ticked. He kicked on some barrels and they rolled close to Shinobu. He seemed to follow the way they rolled. Shinobu could just see him over some crates and he tried to make himself smaller. "You bastard, once I get my hands on you I'll-"

And just when Shinobu thought he was going to be found, he heard someone from top of the stairs. "What are you doing here?"

Shinobu could see a silhouette of someone from the door they came. His pose looked like he was mad. Whoever that person was, he was grateful.

The person chasing after him spun around and sheathed his sword. "Ah, sorry, sorry. I was just looking for my... cat, so to speak."

"Right," Shinobu could tell that his lie wasn't believed. "Well? There seems to be no cat here. So I suggest you get out."

"But you see," the person chasing after him leaned back and there was a wood creak, "this cat is _very_ important to me."

"I don't care. Just get out."

"But-"

"I said," Shinobu heard a gun cock and somehow he feared for his life again. "Get. Out."

"Tch," he heard the other say. His footfalls seemed to sound heavier and angrier as he walked to get out of the place. "Whatever." With the door opened wider, there was more light seeping in and he could see his chaser bumping his shoulder harshly against the other guy.

Shinobu heard an annoyed whisper of, "Tch, stowaways." And he was plunged into darkness.

Shinobu just sat there for awhile more, regulating his breathing now finally aware of how much he had held his breath. He was too shaken to stand right now. He felt his hands trembling for some reason. It could have been the adrenaline or fear, but all he knew was that this was the first time anything like this had ever happened to him.

He waited a few more moment, just to make sure that his chaser would be far from the vicinity. Gulping a few more times, he deemed himself ready to get out. He wondered if maybe Nowaki was looking for him. He stood with trembling legs. He stood up straighter though. Suddenly, he felt the floor he was standing on sway.

He then registered the footsteps above deck. They were all hurrying and there were muffled shouts heard. He realized then that they were setting sail. His mind completely blank, all he could say was, "_Shit._"

_To be continued..._

xxX~o~o~Xxx

A/n: Holy crap, long time no see audience. I'm on a writing spree this month. Aha. I sh-shouldn't be like this when admission tests are two months away. Ah well. It's already 4: 40 am and I'm sleepy but this demanded to be written. I haven't actually ever written an action sequence in my whole life so here's to hoping this isn't total crap. o/ But I'm rambling.

Review please?


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